Drop-fender for street-railway cars



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- L. H. FINNEY.

4mw? PBNDBRFOR STREET RAILWAY GARS. No. 537,762. PatentedApr. 16, 1895.

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L. H. FINNEY. y DROP FENDER FOR STREET-RAILWAY GARS. No. 537,762. 4 PatentedApr. 16, 1895.

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Nrrnn STATES- 4PATENT r Giunchi.

LEWIS H. FINNEY, OF RICHMOND, VIRGINIA.

DROP-FENDER FOR STREET-RAILWAY CARS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 537,762, dated April 16, 1895.

Application filed October 4, 1894. Serial No. 524,911. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.:L

Be it known that I, LEWIS H. FINNEY, a citizen of the United States, residing at Richmond,\in the county of Henrico and State of Virginia, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Drop-Fenders for Street- Railway Cars; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

This invention relates to certain improvements in fenders for street railway cars, more particularly to that class commonly known as drop fendersgand it consists in providing each end of the car, forward of the tru'cks, with a peculiar shaped fender having rear- Wardly extending arms, which are pivoted to the side-pieces of the truck-frame; the forward, or free end of the fender, being normally supported a short distance abovethe level of the tracks, by means of a reciprocating rod, which is arranged. to have one end enter an elongated perforation made in a post or standard rising from the frame of the fender and the other end operated by a tri p-gate, pivoted beneath the platform,at the forward lend of the car, and the invention further conlis effect, not only a saving of the life of both v persons and animals, who may be struck by the car,but, at the same time, to alsoprevent injury to the car.

The above mentioned object is attained by the mechanism illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in whichn 'Figure l, represents a `side elevation of a car, showing my improved fender attached at each end thereof, one fender being held in its normal position above thetrack and the other in dropped position; Fig. 2, a central vertical longitudinal section of one end of a portion of a car and the fender attached thereto, the fender being shown in normal position; Fig.

3, a front view of the trip-gate; Fig. 4, a transverse vertical section on line x of Fig. 2; Fig. 5, a perspective view of the fender dei tached, and Fig. 6 a plan view of the arched- 6o bar support detached.

Referring to the drawings, the numeral 1 indicates the side pieces of the truck-frame, which are connected together, at their respective ends, by an arched-bar, 2, which is provided or formed with right-angled arms 3, by means of which said bar is bolted to the side pieces. The crown of the arched-bar is perforated at 4 and provided with a lug, 5, having an aperture, 6, the purpose of which 7o will be hereinafter explained. v

The numeral 7 indicates the fender, which consists, preferably, of a skeleton frame, 8, having a curved front and provided with a vertical rim, 9, the sides of which extend rear- 7 5 wardly and serve as arms, by means of which the fender is pivoted to the side-pieces of the truckframe. These arms are of a length suflicient to permit the pivotal connection being made, preferably, at a point slightly in rear 8o of the wheels, so that when the fender is dropped the inclination will not be suliciently great to cause the forward end of said fender to dig into the road-bed.

. The under side of the fender is provided, at opposite sides, with shoes, 10, preferably of metal, which are adapted to rest and. slide upon each rail of the track, when the fender is dropped. A similar shoe, ll, somewhat shorter than the others, is secured at the for- 9o ward point of said fender and serves to cause the fender to ride easily over any slight obstruction, when down, thus preventing injury to the forward end of the fender.

The numeral 12 indicates a post or stand- 9 5 ard, which rises from a cross-bar, 13, of the skeleton frame and passes through the per foration 4, in the arched-bar 2. Between the said bar 2 and the cross-bar 13, surrounding the post or standard, is a spiral-spring, 14, roo which tends to press or force the fender down upon the track when released by the action of the trip-gate and reciprocating-rod, which will be hereinafter described. The post or standze w ard near its upper end, is provided with a slot, 15, and a short distance above said slot with a chain 16, which passes up through a hole made in the iioor of the car, and serves as a means for raising the fender to its normal position after having been dropped.

The numeral 17 indicates a gravity tripgate, which is pivoted at each end of the car between two hangers, 18, depending from the under side of the car platform. This trip-gate consists preferably of an openwork frame and is pivoted sufficiently high above the road or track-bed, to clear any ordinary obstruction, but may be encountered by obstructions ofa more bulky character, such as the body of a human being, or animals of large size, and be turned backward or inward on its pivots. The upper edge of said trip-gate, above its pivotal point, is provided with a bifurcated lug, 19, between the arms of which is pivoted or hinged one end of a reciprocating-rod, 20, the other endv of which passes through the aperture 6, of the lug 5, on the arched-bar,

and is adapted to enter. the slot 15, of the post orstandard 12.

Various modifications of myinveution may be. made without sacrificing the principle.` o r departing from the spirit thereof, synch, for instance, as changing the location of; the trip.- gate to any convenient or4 desired position beneath. the car-platform, or the employment; ot' anyy suitable tri p-gate, so long. as it is loosely hung and there A'is a sufficient amount of leverage above its pivotal orhinged points, to reciprocate the rodl when said trip-gate is pushed or` forced, inward, or drops by gravity back to its normal D Osition. It is highly important in this class ot' fen,- ders, that when the fender is dropped it should set close to the track-bed withoutthe objectionable jumpingor intermittent up and downA motion, which is common. to. many fenders of this character, during the attempt to stop the car en meeting or encountering an obstruction, and it is one 0f the purposes of this invention to. overcome this very objeo? tionable feature which is accomplished by pivoting the fender at a point quite, distant froml theforward end ofV said fender, so that when` the fender is dropped the inclination will be very slight, but I do not wish it to be understood that said fender may not be pivoted at a point much closer toits forwardend than that shown in the drawings and notbe productive of good results, for suchis not the case, as it, can be pvoted. at a point coincident with the fron-t ofthe Wheels and produce equally good results, but` I prefer topivot it at the point, shown inthe drawings.

It is obvious that my invention may-heap? plied to cars alreadyin use, by simply removingr the usual cross'beam or. connecting-piece, between they respective ends of the truckframe, and substituting thereforthe archedbarshown in the drawings, or, in some cases simply securing an arched bar, without the right-angled arms, to the usual cross-bar and :scarce pivoting the arms of the fender to either the side-beams or fender-boards of the truckframe, or to the side-sills of the car-body,but I prefer, when it can be done, to pivot the fender to some side portion ofthe truck frame, in which ease it will not partake of the mo' tion of the car body.

The operation of my invention is obvious without further description, other than to statethat when the trip-gate encounters an extraordinary obstruction, the lower end of the gate will be forced inward and the upper portion outward, and, as one end of the reciprocating-rod is attached to the latter it will be seen that the other end ot' said rod will be withdrawn from the slotet in the post or standard 2, letting the forward end ot the fender dropl instantly, in time, to encounter the obstructing object and, if it be a humanv being push it to one sido 0r the other out of the way of all danger` 0r harm, the Space between the fender and steps being sufficiently large ffor this purpose. After the obstruction has bfen removed and the ca r ready to proceed on its journey, the chain, which is furnished with a ring, is given a strong pull, so that the end of the4 reciprocating-rod may enter the slot in the post or standard, which is accompolished by the trip-gate resuming its normal position by gravity, and restore the fender to its normal position. Thus it willbe seenthat the fender is tripped and, reset automatically.

Having thus fully described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. The combination, with a car-truck, of a pivoted fender having a crossbar from which arises a vertical standard provided with a slot, a reciprooating-rod adapted to engage said slot to normally hold the front end of said fender above the track, and` a gravity trip-gate arranged to automatically operate said rod to drop the fender-and relock the same, when raised.-

2.V The combination, with a car-truck, of a pivoted spring-pressed fender having a crossbar carrying a vertical standard provided with a Slot, a reoiproeating rod arranged. t0 engage said slot to normallyhold said fender above the track, a gravity trip-gate, whereby thefront endet thefender is automatically dropped and relocked, when raised.

3- The. combination, with a Gar truoleof a fender having rearwardly extending sidearms, pivoted to the sides of the ear truck, an` archedfcross-bar, secured tothe end of the truck frame a vertical post or standard s ecured. to Said fender and passing up through a perforation in the arched-bar, a reciprocating-rod having one end adapted to enter a slot in the vertical post or standard and its other endk hinged to a gravity trip-gate,f and the gravity trip-gate whereby the fronty end ofV the fenderv is automaticallyv dropped and reset.

4,.y 'Ijhe combination, with a car-truck having its ends connected together by a cross-bar ICO 'provided'with a central aperture, of a fender having itsside-arms pivoted to the sides of the truck and provided with a vertical cen Ifo tral post or standard passing up through the aperture in said cross-bar, a gravity tripgate, hinged or pivoted beneath the car-platform, and a reciprocating-rod having one end loosely connected to said gate and its other endwadapted to normally rest in a slot made in the vertical post or standard, to hold the front end of the fender normally above the track.

5. The combination, with a car-truck having its ends connected together by an arched cross-bar, centrally apertured, of a fender having side armspivoted to the sides of the car truck, its front end normally held above the track, and provided with a vertical p ost or standard passing up through the aperture in the cross-bar, and mechanism for automatically dropping said front end of the fender, and resetting the same.

6. The combination, with a car-truck having its ends connected together by an arched cross-bar having a central aperture and provided with a perforated guide, of a fender having side arms pivoted to the sides of the car truck,and provided with a vertical post or standard passing up through the aperture in said cross-bar, a gravity trip-gate pivoted or hinged beneath the car-platform, and a reciprocating-rod having oneend hinged to said gate and its other end passing through said guide and adapted to enter a slot in the vertical post or standard to normally hold the front end of the fender above the car-track.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature t in the presence of two Witnesses.

LEWIS H. FINNEY.

Witnesses:

J. R. NOTTINGHAM, E. A. PAUL. 

